Test Contract Market

[testerlad]

Hi all,

Been a reader of the boards for a while but not posted before, mainly as I was in a stage of learning a lot for myself - don't see the point in posting a thread on here asking about ltd vs umbrella or IR35 etc etc - if I can't work things like that out for myself then I'm not going to make it far!!!!

Anyhow reason for my posting this morning is to get a bit of opinion for the state of the market within testing at the minute. I seem to be getting a lot of calls but not much follow up beyond that, been for couple of interviews but both were a case of original reqs from client not being quite what they actually wanted and my skills being slightly different from what they need. I'm very flexible on location, have good experience in highly business focused roles dealing with senior stakeholders on large projects, 4.5 years test experience, 2 in mgt roles. I'm not looking for purely senior roles, anything that gains me more experience and adds to the CV is great but things seem very slow?

I'm not sure if to put this down to the fact its xmas or whether to consider revamping my CV to gain results?

Any comments?

[syn]

Seems to be the other way around in the IT contracting market lately. Very busy.

[DiscoStu]

Seems to be the other way around in the IT contracting market lately. Very busy.

Have you been looking at testing roles? It's very quiet at the moment.

About 2 months ago there were about 1300 contract test vacancies on CWJobs IIRC. I looked 5 mins ago and there were 674.

Doomed.

[BrowneIssue]

Seemingly, demand for testing skills is going up:

http://www.jobstats.co.uk/jobstats.d...G.d/index.html

[testerlad]

About 2 months ago there were about 1300 contract test vacancies on CWJobs IIRC. I looked 5 mins ago and there were 674.

That would tally with my experience of late, I was getting a lot of urgent calls whilst in my last gig but now it seems very very quiet. I'm sure things will pick up in the new year however, it's a case of enjoying xmas then finding what's about.

[ChimpMaster]

Testeslad - I wouldn't fret too much just yet. The lull right now is more than likely due to the Xmas period so things will hopefully pick up in late January. It might get more worrying when businesses started battoning down the hatches for the ensuing recession, so the aim is to either get into a reasonable long term contract (and save money) or go permie

[DodgyAgent]

Hi all,

Been a reader of the boards for a while but not posted before, mainly as I was in a stage of learning a lot for myself - don't see the point in posting a thread on here asking about ltd vs umbrella or IR35 etc etc - if I can't work things like that out for myself then I'm not going to make it far!!!!

Anyhow reason for my posting this morning is to get a bit of opinion for the state of the market within testing at the minute. I seem to be getting a lot of calls but not much follow up beyond that, been for couple of interviews but both were a case of original reqs from client not being quite what they actually wanted and my skills being slightly different from what they need. I'm very flexible on location, have good experience in highly business focused roles dealing with senior stakeholders on large projects, 4.5 years test experience, 2 in mgt roles. I'm not looking for purely senior roles, anything that gains me more experience and adds to the CV is great but things seem very slow?

I'm not sure if to put this down to the fact its xmas or whether to consider revamping my CV to gain results?

Any comments?

You're a tester why dont you try it?

[testerlad]

Aye Jazman thats what I put it down to, I saved in my last gig so not worried for cash, suppose 5 years down the line I'll have the experience to call on in these situations. Time to start peeling spuds :-)

[Cooperinliverp00l]

I've been contracting almost 4 years with additional 3 year of permie experience. Worked my way up whilst contracting to senior Test Manager which i'm at my current gig. Not sure wher eyou are based but i have always managed to get a gig and although my current contract is not up until april i still keep my eyes peeled and there is plenty of work out there.

What normally happens and is happening to me at the moment companies all start to go on leave so the general recruitment slows down while you wait for signatures of authorisation to recruit and progress with CV's. I'm trying to recruit potention 9 testers based in North West when i eventually get agreement from customer.

Good luck

[testerlad]

Cheers Cooper. I'm Nottm based although willing to travel anywhere really. More keen on upping my CV contents at present rather than rate chasing or sticking to one location. Although my permie job was Test Manager level I need to widen the experience and am quite willing to drop down the levels to do that - to be fair i've had a pretty quick rise from TA in 2003 through to TM and probably just need to get a varied CV to push me on.